Bebop Spoken There

Donovan Haffner ('Best Newcomer' 2025 Parliamentary Jazz Awards): ''I got into jazz the first time I picked up a saxophone!" - Jazzwise Dec 25/Jan 26

The Things They Say!

This is a good opportunity to say thanks to BSH for their support of the jazz scene in the North East (and beyond) - it's no exaggeration to say that if it wasn't for them many, many fine musicians, bands and projects across a huge cross section of jazz wouldn't be getting reviewed at all, because we're in the "desolate"(!) North. (M & SSBB on F/book 23/12/24)

Postage

18146 (and counting) posts since we started blogging 17 years ago. 24 of them this year alone and, so far this month (Jan. 7), 24

From This Moment On ...

JANUARY 2026

Fri 09: The House Trio @ Bishop Auckland Methodist Church. 1:00pm. £9.00.
Fri 09: Nauta @ Jesmond Library, Newcastle. 1:00pm. £5.00. Trio: Jacob Egglestone, Jamie Watkins, Bailey Rudd.
Fri 09: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 09: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 09: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ The Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 09: Warren James & the Lonesome Travellers @ Saltburn Community Hall. 7:30pm. £15.00.
Fri 09: The Blue Kings @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £10.00. (£8.00. adv.). All-star band.

Sat 10: Mark Toomey Quintet @ St Peter’s Church, Stockton-on-Tees. 7:30pm. £12.00. (inc. pie & peas). Tickets from: 07749 255038.

Sun 11: New ’58 Jazz Collective @ Jackson’s Wharf, Hartlepool. 1:00pm. Free.
Sun 11: Am Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00pm. Free.
Sun 11: 4B @ The Ticket Office, Whitley Bay. 3:00pm. Free.
Sun 11: Eva Fox & the Sound Hounds @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm.

Mon 12: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 12: Saltburn Big Band @ Saltburn House Hotel. 7:00-9:00pm. Free.

Tue 13: Milne Glendinning Band @ Newcastle House Hotel, Rothbury. 7:30pm. £11.00. Coquetdale Jazz.
Tue 13: Jazz Jam Sandwich @ The Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Wed 14: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 14: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 14: Jam Session @ The Tannery, Hexham. 7:00pm. Free.
Wed 14: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.

Thu 15: Mark Toomey Quartet @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 8:30pm. Free. Quartet + guest Paul Donnelly (guitar).

Reviewers wanted

Whilst BSH attempts to cover as many gigs, festivals and albums as possible, to make the site even more comprehensive we need more 'boots on the ground' to cover the albums seeking review - a large percentage of which never get heard - report on gigs or just to air your views on anything jazz related. Interested? then please get in touch. Contact details are on the blog. Look forward to hearing from you. Lance

Saturday, February 02, 2013

CD Review: Daniel Lantz Trio Plays Bond.

Daniel Lantz (pno); Erik Ojala (bs); Daniel Olsson (dms) + Sani Gamedze (vcl); Roger Nordling (ten).
(Review by Lance).
The thought of listening to a CD of James Bond associated tunes filled me with horror.  I recalled that even the Basie Band's crack at 007 wasn't wonderful. Tom Jones, Shirley Bassey are the names I associate with these tunes. The blurb mentioned that Sani Gamedze had been influenced by Bassey so I buried my head in the sand and hoped it would go away!
It didn't and boy am I glad!
South African Gamedze bears as much resemblance to "Burly Chassis" as our cat does!
This lady has a great jazz-influenced voice (something Bassey could never be accused of) and she puts it to good effect on Moonraker, Diamonds Are Forever, Tomorrow Never Dies, A View to Kill, If There Was a Man and Nobody Does it Better. On the latter number, Sani's  up-tempo version indicates that nobody indeed does it better. Having said that, Carly Simon's original version was also pretty damn good but this...!
Roger Nordling, a Swedish tenor saxist and flautist, blows some exciting and  effective solos both on the vocal tracks and on the instrumentals.
Apologies to the Daniel Lantz Trio for concentrating on the guests. The trio is the major factor on the CD - it is, after all, their gig -  providing the structure for the guests to take off and to show that Swedish jazzmen can swing as much as they did back in the days of Gullin, Hallberg, Domnerus etc. 
Lantz is simply the perfect guy to comp or solo in any band. His playing, always sympathetic to his surroundings, contains such beautiful solos and with the trio everything gells.
I was both shaken (pleasantly) and stirred by this disc.
Daniel Lantz Trio Plays Bond was released on Do Music Records on Jan. 25.
Lance.

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